(I work in a grocery store as a cashier, often in the express lanes which are ten items or less. I’m a college-age girl. I’m also hard of hearing, practically deaf without my hearing aids. On this day, I have forgotten them. However, my right ear is better than my left, so I’ve been relying on it the entire day. Still, if someone talks directly to me, I can hear them well enough and I can read lips. I have a pin on my apron that says people should face me when speaking. An older man walks through my line.)

Me: “Hi! How are you this morning?”

Customer: “GOOD! I want a…” *turns around while saying what he’d like*

Me: *cute right ear tap* “I’m actually hard of hearing, so could you repeat that while facing me?”

I have been searching for employment for much, much longer than anticipated — and decide to focus on a new profession: candidate/client recruiting. To my huge surprise, less than six months after starting to network in this new field, I land an entry-level recruiter role at a boutique agency.

Despite knowing that I have no professional experience in cold calling and other sales/recruiting techniques, along with recruiting in the financial/accounting area, my immediate supervisor gives me a training schedule better suited for a sales person with no prior recruiting experience.

For example, I am expected to connect with at least ten client decision makers, either by direct conversations or emails, and find two potential candidates, by day two of employment.

My division: finance/accounting, consisting of me as the sole new employee and two highly seasoned directors/”co-bosses,” each with 20+ years of experience with this same company. The other division is HR recruiters, and has a total of three directors and eight recruiters.

I soon realize I do not enjoy any part of this new role, especially cold calling. As I am about to resign, my supervisors let me go less than a month after my start date. During my brief time there, I became friendly with nearly everyone on the HR side, and surprisingly, many of them join me for a lunch already scheduled pre-firing.

This lunch is strictly for me, my fellow recruiters, and the two administrative staff members; we did not invite their directors, my previous bosses, or the agency owners.

I had not been able to see two former coworker before my last day, and tried to contact them. Soon after that last group lunch, I leave each person a SINGLE voice message.

The message was along the lines of: “Hi, [Former Coworker], I missed seeing you at the group lunch earlier this month. I was wondering if we could catch up over a quick lunch in the next few weeks. Please let me know what might work for you. Thank you.”

Less than three hours after leaving that message, I receive an email from the agency owner.

Email: “Hi, [My Name]. I recently heard from my staff that you have been asking them out to lunch. Please stop contacting any of my staff members; they are complaining that you are distracting them and they have been unable to focus on their tasks. Thank you, [Agency Owner].”

This agency owner was the first former employer who decided to rudely dismiss my attempts to “save the bridge from burning.” Instead of sending them any referrals, I now actively steer clients/candidates away from this entire group!

(I’m working as a cashier a month or two after the holiday season, like late January or February. A lot of customers come in without receipts (not even gift receipts) and want a full refund in the form of cash (both of which are against store policy).
*Family walks in with a bag so I assume they’re going to return/exchange*
Me: “Hello how are y’all doing today?”
Customer: “I need to exchange this shirt I got as a gift it’s too big.” (It’s a large and this dude is RIPPED but he wanted a medium).
Me: “Okay, no problem. Can I see your receipt?”
Customer: “I don’t have one. It was a gift.”
Me: “Okay, if you don’t have a receipt or a gift receipt can I have the name of the person who purchased it so I can see if they are enrolled in our rewards program?”
Customer: “Look I just want to switch the shirt out.”
Me: “I understand but without a receipt or the ability to locate the purchase, I will have to do a no receipt return for you and only give you the lowest price this shirt has ever been. I’d like to do an even exchange if you could just give me the name of the person who purchased this for you please.”
(The customer gives me the name and I find it so I explain that the shirt was purchased on sale and I can do an even exchange for that exact shirt in a different size. He comes back to the register with a gray shirt when I had already explained that he needed to get the same red shirt in his desired size).
Me: *starting the return hoping maybe the shirt is still on sale only to find out it isn’t* “Okay for the gray shirt you will owe the difference, which is $10.”
Customer: “No I’m not paying that.”
Me: “Unfortunately I can’t correct the price unless it is the EXACT same item (as I had previously explained.”
Customer: *proceeding to yell and cuss at me in front of his wife and child* “This is bulls***! Whatever I’ll pay the difference.”
Me: “Again, I apologize but there is nothing I can do to lower the price unless you want to get the red shirt.” *I take his money, complete the transaction, and tell them to have a good day.*
Customer: “Actually I want that red shirt I just returned for the price it was purchased at the time (whoever) got it for me.”
Me: “I’m sorry sir but this since it has been returned, I can only give it to you for the price it rings up now, which is the same price you just paid for the gray one.”
*He BLOWS up and my manager hears him and comes up. She ends up having me give him the red one and his $10 back just to get him out of there but a little bit of me died inside as he walked out calling me stupid because my manager backed down to him.*

(It is the end of the year, and almost every classroom is being used for testing. Because of this, my class has been forced to wait in the hallway. All of us are all tired and hot. Classmate #1 is lying on their backpack.)